Such a heel holder is not known to Applicants from any published reference, but instead is a heel holder structure previously developed for and within the corporate assignee of the present application. The swivel axle for the release lever in such heel holder, however, was guided in a slotlike hole provided in the control lever so as to extend approximately radially to the swivel axis of the control lever. This heel holder had the disadvantage that, since the stop for the binding housing provided on the release lever also served as the boundary for the upward swinging of the down-holding member, a defined position of the release lever by means of the release spring was not always given. Therefore, it could happen that, when the initial tension of the release spring was adjusted to a low value, the binding housing would respond to an overload on the down-holding member, for example during an impact, by swinging past the provided end position. The release lever would thus be moved in this case reawardly in the longitudinal direction of the ski against the effective force of the weakly adjusted spring through the support region of the down-holding member on the extension, so that the down-holding member was above the extension. The release spring then pressed the release lever forwardly, so that during re-entry the extension was in the way of the down-holding member.
A similar heel holder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,341. This design has a bearing block, in the upper region of which there is arranged a swivel axle for a binding housing with a down-holding member and a stepping spur. In the lower region of the bearing block there is provided a further swivel axle for a two-part control lever which engages a control element of the binding housing and is biased by a release spring which can be adjusted in its initial tension. The support of the release spring on the control lever occurs by means of a U-shaped spring abutment which has two legs pivotally supported on the two parts of the control lever by means of two semi-axles. The two semi-axles extend through arcuate slotted holes in the sidewalls of the bearing block and carry on their projecting ends the legs of a U-shaped, one-arm release lever which is supported against shoulders of the bearing block.
This design has a main disadvantage the fact that, for opening the heel holder, the skier must bend down, since opening thereof can be effected only by pulling on a rope. Moreover, the release spring, which has one end anchored on the bearing block, is not only compressed during a release, but is also bent, which requires additional effort.
Furthermore, in a heel holder described in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2 700 834 the binding housing engages a movable piston which is biased by the release spring. Thus, this heel holder is a different type of heel holder than that to which the invention is directed.
The invention has as a purpose to overcome these disadvantages and to provide a heel holder in which the position of the release lever can be fixed reliably in the stepping-in position of the heel holder, even when the initial tension of the release spring is changed at random.
Starting out from a heel holder of the general type to which the invention relates, this purpose is attained inventively by the release lever carrying a first stop which, in cooperation with a counterstop arranged on one of the binding housing and the bearing block, limits a releasing movement of the release lever, and also carrying a second stop which, in the open position of the binding housing, engages the bearing block or a part which is fixedly connected to the bearing block and thus limits swinging movement of the release lever toward its releasing position. Due to the fact that the position of the release lever is determined by two elements, it is assured that, even at differing initial tensions of the release spring, the release lever is fixed reliably in the stepping-in position.
According to a further development of the invention, it has proven advantageous if the first stop of the release lever is constructed as a transverse plane, a line normal to which goes through the bolt which serves as the swivel axle for the release lever, and if the associated counterstop is formed by a shoulder provided on the binding housing. In this manner, the position of the release lever in the longitudinal direction of the ski is determined structurally in a simple manner and the upward swinging capability of the binding housing is defined therewith.
According to a further feature of the invention, downward pivoting of the release lever is limited by the bearing block itself.
According to another feature of the invention, a counterstop is used for simultaneously securing the release lever against rearward movement and downward swinging movement, which illustrates a substantial simplification .